Police: Young people driving spike in gun violence in Des Moines
By Beau Bowman
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DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — The triple shooting at MLK Park is the 109th confirmed shooting in the city, according to Des Moines police. That is half of 2021’s total and we’re only a little more than a third of the way through 2022.
“It’s a story that we’re telling far too often in our city,” said Sgt. Paul Parizek.
And Des Moines police say a big chunk of those numbers come from juvenile violence.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that an immature hand makes immature decisions. And you put a gun in that hand and it’s a recipe for tragedy,” Parizek said.
Eastsider Jim Clark’s question is not easily answered: where are teens getting the guns?
If it has a serial number, police can only find where they are manufactured and sold, but not how they exchange hands or move around between criminals.
On average, Des Moines police confiscate more than 600 guns per year and they fear that number will jump even higher by the end of 2022.
“Get to the root of the problem, and not do it cosmetically,” said Ako Abdul-Samad with Creative Visions.
Abdul-Samad says there needs to be more conversations going on in the Des Moines Public School District.
Following the shooting outside East High, DMPS held round table discussions at each of the five high schools, coming up with a plan to slow down violence rates among teenagers.
But Abdul-Samad wants those discussions to be had in more places than just the classroom.
“Neighborhood associations need to hold the real conversations, churches need to hold those types of conversations, we have to get everybody involved to be able to do that,” Abdul-Samad said.
The Des Moines police have not made an arrest yet in the case at MLK Park.
All three teens who were shot are expected to survive.
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